Chinese tourist is locked up for 15 hours during a trip to Hull after police arrested her for driving TOO SLOWLY and she couldn't pay the £100 fine

A tourist was locked up for 15 hours in a police cell because she could not pay an on-the-spot motoring fine.

Qiaoyon Wang, 39, from China, was trying to find friends in Hull when she was stopped by police after driving slowly on the eastbound carriageway of the A63 at Hessle at 11.50pm on Wednesday.

She said she became "confused" after a police BMW estate car came up behind her hired Ford Focus and flashed its headlights.

When she did pull over after turning into Saxon Way near Sainsbury's, the former student was arrested because she could not pay a £100 fixed penalty notice.

Miss Wang then spent 15 hours in a police cell before being brought into the dock of Hull Magistrates' Court, where she admitted driving without due care and attention through a Mandarin Chinese interpreter.

Andrew Stirling, prosecuting, said a constable in the marked police car became "concerned" about her driving. Mr Stirling said: "He says there were no other motor vehicles near the defendant's car. He says the defendant was travelling quite slowly, at 40mph in a 70mph speed limit.

"Miss Wang was wandering from lane to lane for no apparent reason. She did also apply her brakes for some reason at that point."

Mr Stirling said there was "some disagreement" between the officer and Miss Wang at the roadside, and she said she "wanted to be arrested" because she could not pay the fine. But Lawrence Watts, mitigating, said she could not understand the interpreter provided by police through "Language Line".

Mr Watts told magistrates: "There is no crime in doing less than 70mph on a dual carriageway. There is no entry, so far as I'm aware, in the Highway Code that recognises a headlight flashing in someone's mirror as an acceptable signal from the police.

"To say Miss Wang has ignored signals from a police car is perhaps overstating the position. Those of us who drive on the UK roads on a daily basis will understand the shorthand that is implied in a headlight flashing - please get out of my way."

He said Miss Wang, who had been in the country for four days, had been visiting friends in Sheffield, where she used to study in the early 2000s, and was on her way to meet friends at Hull University.

He said: "Miss Wang accepts that she suffered from a relatively short-term lapse in concentration, and found herself treating the outside lane as if it was the slow lane, because that's of course how she would have driven in her native China. She didn't know what to do and she panicked."

After conferring with colleagues, Janice Petherbridge, Chairman of the Bench, told Miss Wang: "We have heard what has been said today about the circumstances, and we feel the fact that you have spent approximately 15 hours in custody is sufficient punishment for this offence. We therefore make an absolute discharge, which means that will be the end of this matter."

"Oh thank you, thank you, madam," said Miss Wang.

"Enjoy the rest of your holiday," said Mrs Petherbridge.

When Miss Wang was released from court she was left to her own devices to find and retrieve her car in Saxon Way four miles away.

She told the Mail: "I think the police were a bit cruel and showed no mercy. But I like England. I met some very nice people today, including Lawrence the solicitor at court."

Miss Wang's itinerary will take her as far north as Edinburgh before she leaves the UK on March 1.

Chinese tourist is locked up for 15 hours during a trip to Hull after police arrested her for driving TOO SLOWLY and she couldn't pay the £100 fine
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January 26, 2018
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